Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-08-10
A MEXICAN DINNER.
DEllCACIES THAT WERE NOT APP
PRGCIATED BY AMERICANS.

/
or Chocolate Colored Beans Hot
Gravy-PuIque.
| At each guests plate a menu card was
| placed. The cards were beautifully decor
ated by the Mexican artists. Some of the
cards were decorated with miniature birds
made of gay feathers. Other cards were
artisticaIy gotten up with straw work woven
about the corners, and below on all the cards
was printed in Spanish the following:
| Caldo Mexicano.
| Arroz Seco.
Mole de Guajolote.
Ensala- Frijoles.
Frutas. Pulque.
| Tamales Chocolate
A good many of the guests thought "Caldo
Mexicano" meant cold Mexican and they
were wondering how he would be served,
when little tea cups filed with greasy soup
were brought on. Mexican soup is more ike
the drippings from roast beef that anything
else. The proper way to get rid of the soup
is to drink 1T The Mexicans did. The
American guests did not. They smelled it
and smiled.
Plates containing boiled rice mixed with
boiled carrots and hard boiled eggs chopped
fine were next That mixture was called
"Arroz seco." The rice was very red, having
been stained in the boiling by the carrots.
Some liked it. "Tortillasn followed-a fat
corn cake that looked like pale boarding
house buckwheat cakes, the kind boarders in
arrears usually get. The tortillas were made
of crushed corn, which was ground into meal
up stairs. The process is to lay the corn on a
stone and roll it with a stone bar until it be-
Ynlal ha halya RI Ia
sheets of tin over charcoal fires The Next
cans rolled the cakes up into rolls, first spread
ing salt on them. Then they ate them much
the same as an American would nibble at a
Lady finger. "Puchero,n which came next,
was made of fried cabbage, goat meat fried
carrots and fried bananas, and is known as a
Mexican Irish stew
VARIOUS OTHER DAINTIEs
"Ensala" was composed of lettuce spread
thickly with sweet oil Mixed in the lettuce
there were onions chopped fine and a good
deal of garlic. Accompanying the salad on
the g" dish was stewed veal stuffed with
almonds. There was dish served which was
not on the menu card. 1t was called "Chili
tiero." 1t is to Mexicans what soft shell
crab is to an American. Green peppers were
followed out and the shell was filled with
chopped chicken with few raisins mixed in
it. The pepper was then dipped into batter
and fried in pan of hot lard. This dish was
very much in favor. Everybody nearly took
to the "frijoles," chocolate colored beans.
They were very tender and were dressed with
a sauce that was very palatable. The FRI
Jole" has quite as great reputation in Next
co as the baked bean has in Boston. The most
unique dish served was the 'taumales,"
croquette made of corn meal, raisins, nuts
and fruits. 1t is boiled in corn husk and
looks good deal like boiled pigs foot at
distance when removed from the corn husk
Mole de Guajolote." The mystery of tur-
key was fricasse Of that bird with vege-
table gravy. The gravy was principally hot
fat and red pepper, and everybody who ate
the gravy asked for ice to soothe their burn
ing tongues. The Mexicans smiled and ate
the gravy with relish, dipping their bread
in it. The Mexican wine "pulquen was
served to the guests in small wine glasses. It
looks like milk and tastes like bakers yeast.
1t is to the Mexican what book beer is to the
German. 1t is the juice of the maguey plant,
a species OF century plant The maRuey
plant takes seven years to mature. At
maturity it is about seven feet high Then
the central stalk is cut off at the base and the
juice of the plant is sucked through gourd
and carried off by the natives in skins. The
plant yields about two gallons every Gay for
two or three months after the stalk is cut off
and then dies. The juice is put into jars in |
dark cellars and allowed to ferment for forty |
eight hours. Then the pulque is ready to
drink. A Mexican can drink four quarts Of
it without becoming intoxicated.
Very good chocolate in tiny cups followed,
with real Spanish cigarettes. The Mexicans |
pulled the smoke through their noses and |
their ears and out of their eyes and smoked |
half dozen cigarettes in as many minutes, |
and soon the table was covered with a great |
cloud of smoke and the dinner was over the |
Mexicans rising from their chairs and bowling |
to the guests, and the visitors mechanically |
initiating the MexicanS Philadelphia Times
The general stamped briskly on the tileo |
floor with his left foot. II don't doubt il, he |
said. "1t's really remarkable how anything |
will heal up on sound man. In 1863 got a |
bayonet wound through the fleshy part of |
that leg, above the knee. That was a small |
matter in itself, but set out for the hospital |
by schooner instead of waiting for steam |
vessel We should have been two DAYS on the |
voyage, but the wind gave out and it took us |
thirteen There wasn't a doctor on board, |
and when we got to port that leg was about |
ready to crawl away. The surgeon looked at |
1t and said: You'll have to take chloroform |
while cleanse this No, l won't said l; |
lust have them make me six cocktails. |
When they were made had them set in |
row beside me. He took silk handkerchief |
and drew it through the wound, bringing out |
nerves, tendons, muscles, maggots and all |
had the operation timed, and at regular in
tervals while it was going on | took the six /
cocktails. I'll admit that came pretty near
fainting.
after til at two young sawbones came and |
said they were going to take my leg off.
had an Irish sergeant on whom | thought |
could depend, and l said: Tim, if these gen.
tlemen don't get out in five minutes, put |
them out. 'Bedad. will, sir he said, and |
he said it in such way that they left. The
wound healed all right, as you see" the gen.
eral concluded, but I'd have brighter
financial future if it hadn't. I'm going TO get
$l6 600 pension arrears next month for my
other wounds, and if I'd lost the leg, of course
there would be few thousand more coming
TO me. philadelphia Press.
The Manager of The Sun.